The iOS 6 disaster: Apple bit off way more than it could chew

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I will just say it. For the first time in iOS’s five year history, the operating system is a mess. While some of the enhancements are wonderful and much needed (Siri especially), there’s a lot wrong with iOS 6.

And it’s not just Maps, which just about every tech pundit known to man has thoroughly trashed. The problems extend to the tighter social integration, iMessage, and even Passbook — so much for “it just works.” In reality, a good portion of iOS 6 doesn’t. How could Apple have such a historic miss? Pretty simple: it’s doing too much, too quickly.

The maps are just the beginning

Apple Maps is the company’s biggest gaffe, so much so that an entire Tumblr blog is devoted to its failures. While US data is for the most part acceptable, overseas the application’s issues make it unusable in places. At least one politician is already speaking out on the issue already, calling Apple maps “dangerously misleading” after the app labeled a 35-acre farm as an airport. “I have arranged that Apple be informed of the error and requested that it be urgently corrected,” Ireland’s Justice Minister Alan Shatter was quoted as saying in a statement Thursday. Ouch.

That’s not the only problem. Apple’s Flyover — which when it works is a thing of beauty — has flattened the Statue of Liberty. Portions of cities look like the aftermath of the Zombie Apocalypse. Spelling errors and mislabeling everywhere. Or how about Chicago skyscrapers labeled as gas stations? It’s almost unreal for a company that until recently prided itself on perfection. In all honesty, it feels like Apple has gone ahead and pushed an early beta version of Maps to millions of users.

The issues don’t stop with Maps. While it’s great to see tighter social integration, and posting statuses to Facebook and Twitter from several apps, it only works when it wants to. Siri is back to her slow self at times. And iMessage? It’s failed several times on me the past two days.

On iMessage, I’m not sure exactly what is happening, though. I don’t think Apple made any changes to the way it works in iOS 6, but it has been unstable more than any other time since it was first introduced last year. Passbook is another issue — I had to follow a set of steps to force it to work after it repeatedly told me “Cannot Connect to the iTunes Store.” (If you’re having that same problem, GottaMeMobile has a guide on how to fix it.)

Pretty frustrating stuff.

Going it alone

While I understand Apple’s desire to go in-house for its mobile payment solution, it highlights a common theme that runs across iOS 6: Apple wants to do it itself rather than work with the broader community.

Passbook would have been infinitely better had Apple added NFC support into the iPhone 5 (Yeah, that wouldn’t have helped us old-school iPhoners, but it would have shown initiative). At the same time, it should have found a way to keep Google Maps on iOS until Apple Maps is actually ready for prime time. The only thing I’m glad Apple did is doing away with native YouTube — Google’s new YouTube app is ten times better than the native app ever was. Apple has bit off way more than it could chew with iOS 6, and we’re paying the price for it.

To me this is just maddening: Apple’s strategy has always been to underpromise and overdeliver. Here, they’ve tried to shoot for the stars, and are barely reaching escape velocity. With Tim Cook now in full control of Apple, the blame is on his shoulders for allowing the company to release something like this. We worried what Apple would be like after Steve Jobs’ death, and it would seem we have our answer.

Obviously, the next question is whether or not Apple will be able to manage the public relations disaster that is about to ensue. With the iPhone 5 being released today, millions more will be using iOS 6 and experiencing the same problems in short order. Journalists — not just the tech media — are going to be looking for a story. For a company flying so high, a piece on its failures and shortcomings is just too juicy to pass up.

While Apple may want us to focus on the millions who will likely be lining up to get their hands on its next-generation smartphone, the real story will be the mess it got itself into by going it alone.

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The only thing that it did much better than the competitors.. and only back in the days of Iphone 1-3… and it’s been thrown away. I guess their financial model focuses on lawsuit income now.

http://www.facebook.com/sverrisson Hannes Sverrisson

The Apple Map feature should have been labeled “beta” like Siri was on iOS 5!
One thing this article doesn´t address is that Apple had no choice but to stop using Google maps if they wanted to add new features like turn-by-turn directions and overfly. But, all this publicity will make them put a lot of money and effort into improving the Maps and we will have forgotten all this when iOS 7 comes out – just like everyone has forgotten the antenna issues and overheating iPad :)

http://www.facebook.com/spward Scott Ward

I haven’t forgotten the overheating
iPad. It reminds me daily and Apple Support told me not to use it in temperatures
above 90 degrees.

brekinapez

So basically if you’re traveling in the Southern USA in the summer you have to leave it behind?

Considering the number of decent free GPS apps out there (Waze!) abandoning something that worked pretty much perfectly for such a horrible mess just to add a couple features is just plain stupid.

Tim

They had better fix the issues long before iOS 7 comes out, or there probably won’t even be an iOS 8 because people will have completely abandoned iPhone.

http://twitter.com/piercel1 Pierce L

All but the most devoted iSheep must have a breaking point. After all everyone’s a customer. And I have a feeling that if Apple continues on their current path, that point is just a few years at most off.

http://kevmcclain.myopenid.com/ Kevin McClain

Even with the antennae issue the iPhone 4 was vastly superior to any Android device on the Market 2 years ago. That is most certainly not the case today. The Samsung S3 is at least equal and probably superior to the iPhone 5.
There are alternatives now unlike 2 years ago. It needs to be fixed way before iOS 7 is released.

http://www.facebook.com/thomas.kolakowski Thomas Kolakowski

Should have been labeled as “alpha” as it isn’t even a good beta release.

babiesdaddy

So I have to buy a new phone next year to get the features I was supposed to this year? I’m just saying if you are gonna advertise about how great something is or will be make sure you can back it up or prepare to be criticized.

thedude44

So to paraphrase Shakespeare,
“I have come here to bury Apple, not to praise it”.

JosephAbby

There’s a bunch of iOS maps bloopers here ­ Fox46­.­com

brenro

Another fail not mentioned: lack of an extra antenna so you can simultaneously make calls and access data on LTE.

AT&T gets around this by dropping you down to their old 3G network. So you are paying for 4G but only getting 3G if you try and use Voice & Data.

http://www.facebook.com/pittspgh PittsPgh Pitts

The Sprint S3 and EVOLTE are also capable of voice & data simultaneously while on 3G. In the areas that have been updated.

Michael Goncalves

Extra Antenna? I’d be happy if SPRINT provided an extra piece of STRING for my APPLE Tin Can!!! We don’t have an up and running 4G LTE service where I live/commute. That means if I ‘upgraded’ from my 4S to an iPhone5, I’d get the same blazing 3G speeds that I currently have on my 4Steve B-U-T minus $600 for the upgrade because my 4S is only 8 months old!!!

arougthopher

i don’t know, the maps app from google pretty much was horrible as well … took me to the wrong place multiple times. a long time ago i stopped using it for the other, free, apps that are available (waze, mapquest) which did directions much better. so, i don’t see Maps as a gain nor loss at this point. However, if they improve maps like they do every other app over time, i may start to use the maps app that comes with the phone.

http://kevmcclain.myopenid.com/ Kevin McClain

The Maps app by Google on an iPhone may have sucked, but they are competing against Google Maps on Android as well. And it works very well on the Android devices. People were expecting turn by turn navigation that was comparable to what is on an Android. And what they got is not even as good as what they had on an iPhone 4S.

ammagad

Apple will never have a quality map like I have on mye Galaxy Nexus.

bbmcrae

You nearly got the spelling right there, bud.

http://twitter.com/emil3m Emil Frank

There is Mount Berlin in Antarctica and the Nazis had a base codenamed “Berlin” there.

Not that this is an excuse for the map to assume you’re not looking for the city. Horrendous move by Apple.

Signed, owner of every iPhone to date.

chojin999

What disaster c*ap are you babbling about?
There is no disaster at all.
Anyone that really goes around telling that Android/Google, Microsoft/WinPhone8 are better options and have more features with less bugs must be clearly insane.
The maps will get fixed over time. Yes, by users.
Just like users provided fixes to Google over the years.
The issue is that Google used those fixes to cheat on users and developers, turning the first free maps into an expensive service.. developers had to pay a lot to use their maps.
Apple did the right thing.

Florian Bösch

I don’t think you grasp the enormity of the task. Google has a 7-year headstart in refining their maps. They own their own street-view vehicle fleet and data collection, they are renting prime space on several satellites and even have sole use of one you can now call “google satellite”. And even if you go by your premise that users helped google, then google still has a 7-year headstart on user-feedback.

Doing maps, good maps, accurate maps, is really, really really hard. You can’t just “fix it”. What you don’t realize is, that even if Apple is say 10x better than google at doing maps (which is probably physically impossible) you’re still looking at about a year of having sucky maps on iOS. As it stands, not assuming superhuman superiority, it’s probably years and years before iOS maps stop sucking so hard.

sbailey4

Seems folks are forgetting that Apple is not in this alone but partnered with TomTom and about 2 dozen other partners. TomTom been doing this for 20+ years so they should have the map data. Apple just needs to apply it better in their app. So I suspect they don’t need 7 or 10 years to catch up, they have the data.

Pinkius Piecus

But if that’s the case then why is it SO bad? If they have 24 partners all with google-level or more map experience then how is it physically possible to release such a bad product?

http://www.facebook.com/brady.wedding Brady Wedding

Nokia also has it’s own mapping company, they have offline maps on their phones so when you are in the middle of nowhere it still works.
Best mobile maps on the market IMO.

serg

nobody can be more insane than apple fans, what about cheating with expensive chargers

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1223563048 Angel Ham

Didn’t took them long enough to poop on the pristine devices Steve Jobs left in their care.

DDD

Angel, you are absolutely right! I’ve had my iPhones, iPods and iPads for years, and I’m throwing in a towel. I can’t stand unpredictability of Android, but Apple has done it now. Changing the ratio of a screen, not making wider screen, messing up IOS to the point where iMessage is an iMess, getting rid of YouTube altogether… Now that I have 15 chargers for my devices, I need to get adapters for my iPhone5??? After all the fuss… this is simply the last drop in a glass already full.
This just goes to show that someone over at Apple thinks their ego should run the company… it will RUIN it. I can’t believe

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1223563048 Angel Ham

The thing is, Steve Jobs is not with them anymore and he was the one forcing them to push their creativity (and productivity) to their limits.

Also, they’re going through a Microsoft-during-the-late-90s phase ie. replacing much more useful, third-party software with their own and failing about it.

Guest

It’s “throwing in the towel”, btw. Not “a”.

brekinapez

He might have several towels for different occasions and he is referring to his Apple towel.

Just sayin’.

spaceage

Goodbye, enjoy Android! I’m seeing a stampede of people leaving iOS, all 12 of them apparently posting in this message board.

http://justjabari.wordpress.com/ Jabari Styles

hahahah…made me spit out my coffee. I honestly don’t get it either. Having used Android and iOS devices extensively (and over long periods of time) – there really is no comparison. iOS is a VASTLY superior and the more polished product while Android feels more like some really smart dude’s CompSci master’s thesis. Impressive…he get’s the A+, but iOS feels like im driving a shiny new ferrari.

serg

with my note 2 i feel like driving buggati veyron, your ferrari must be engine less

http://justjabari.wordpress.com/ Jabari Styles

thats great dude! Bugatti is a sick car – and so is the Ferrari agree? Thats the beauty of “choice”. You can enjoy your car and I can enjoy mine. Nobody ever went to war over the car they drive did they? Relax..

http://kevmcclain.myopenid.com/ Kevin McClain

This is the difference between having Steve Jobs running Apple and Tim Cook.
Steve was fanatical about every little detail to the point of almost being crazy.
Obviously the details don’t seem to bother Tim Cook.

Michael Goncalves

Remember that OLD JEWISH SAW: “CHOOSE YOUR ENEMIES WELL, FOR IN PURSUING THEM, YOU SHALL BECOME THEM? In 2010, Apple surpassed the net worth of Microsoft. In 2012, Apple now RELEASES MICROSOFT-ISH Products. I don’t know about you, Kevin, but I am PROUD to be an Apple Patron/Apple Beta Tester–that sort of thing really polishes up the Resume, if you know what I’m saying!!!

babiesdaddy

I don’t want to pay to be a beta tester. I bought my cellphone for convenience. Not to wait until they fix it on the next unnecessary version. I’m not one either company’s side but be realistic. It’s the too many options vs no options argument. I like being able to use any companies charger with my phone, and not be forced to buy a expensive proprietary charger that will only work until the next model comes out next year.

serg

ok if you get paid for lying its ok , its money no matter if you lied, i dont matter if mick jagger gives me 1millon if i tell him he looks like 20

These are the “disaster” problems the headline promised? Hahahahahaha. Link-baiting whore.

johnny44

Should have kept google maps for now. Google is the giant pro at mapping. Better to work with them than against them. Millions of commuters and tourists rely heavily on their maps and directions everyday, without simple working functions like this, you may as well carry around an ipod touch. No way should a company like Apple release this onto any product.

tonedef8

Personally I think it’s a bit like complaining MS Paint is not as good as Photoshop, therefor the OS sucks. Want real mapping? Use navigon, tomtom, etc. You should be focusing on iOS6’s performance; do apps run smoother? is battery life better? is the UI improved? The only let down was the hype, it’s a worst a ‘meh’ vs the ‘disaster’ your claiming it to be.

http://profiles.google.com/khimera2000 Jonathan Freeman

There was menchion of other bugs in the article, everyone is just focussed on the map one though.

sbailey4

Agreed. I have a Garmin I use when traveling and save my iPhone for other things like umm mobile phone, and email. And of course Siri conversations :) And who can forget the wife playing “Words with friends” while en-route.

babiesdaddy

Do you take your Garmin everywhere with you? Do you know when you are going to lost? What about riding with someone who doesn’t have gps and the same phone as you?

sbailey4

Um yeah when I am traveling I do. And did you read the parent comment above? There are LOTS of options available to use. If you dont like the Maps app then dont use it, you dont have to. If thats the only reason you have your iPhone then maybe you should look into a Garmin as well. They are a lot cheaper and does a better job for navagation. I stand by tonedef8 in that I prefer all the other things that ARE better with iOS 6

Gerald Williams

I’ve had an Android for years, and the thought of buying a device strictly for GPS seems silly to me. I had a Garmin Nuvi that I let a smartphone-less friend borrow a while ago and for all I care, he can have it. My phone performs faster and just as well if not better than the Nuvi.

tonedef8

We’ve got a Nuvi, an android phone, and an iPhone. Navigon crushes the Nuvi. Even Waze is way better than the native mapping apps on either phone.

phreezerburn

Paint could always do what it was intended to do. It was NEVER passed off as the second coming and arrived like a bad case of the trots. 700 BILLION DOLLARS TO DRAW FROM AND YOU GET THE IPHONE 5. Anything anyone ever said about religious sycophants fits the current Apple zealot perfectly.

babiesdaddy

If it makes you sleep better at night that’s fine, but hype has been Apple’s biggest asset. If it can’t do GPS take it off or tell me it can’t. Does the Map app run smooth? Yes smoothly wrong.

preilly2

“Apple wants to do it itself rather than work with the broader community.” That sums it up very nicely. Apple just doesn’t play well with others.

Rod

And never has!

http://justjabari.wordpress.com/ Jabari Styles

Relax…nothing an update can’t fix. Show me an Android/BB/windows-phone device built like even the 1st gen iPhone and then we can have a real discussion. Nothing like it anywhere

babiesdaddy

Then why did they release it if it’s so easy to fix? There are many so take your pick. It doesn’t even have a slot for an sd card. Why? You are only gonna have that phone for a year until they release the next one so 32gb should be cool for 1 year.

http://justjabari.wordpress.com/ Jabari Styles

I agree with your questions actually…iOS6 was obviously rushed and Apple is suffering embarrassment for it. Regarding their aggressive release cycle – they are smart right? Riding the wave of demand until the wheels fall off. If you had a product like that you would do the same. The numbers dont lie

it should have been obvious with Siri. Siri sucked, and not in a good way. Siri was a joke. It should have never been released. It is downright embarrassing. and to think they advertised it with john malkovich. right there, we should have know. it is the beginning of the end — of greatness, that is, not the company. now, apple is just another company. and it shouldn’t be surprising actually since tim cook is just another ceo. jobs was a genius, wasn’t he? well, he’s not at apple anymore, and the products show it.

http://www.facebook.com/bob.black.1272 Bob Black

thanks for the voice of reason.. I totally agree but the apple fundamentalists drive me crazy so I just keep quiet.

Michael Goncalves

I disagree. Siri’s accuracy is about 45% which is elbows and a-holes better than Sprint’s 411 $1.99 a shot information calls. Siri alone has cut my 411 phone calls by $200.00 a month. Ask me about the joys of dealing with a live Hominid vrs that with Ms. SiriI. I wanted to get the number of the Department of Justice, San Francisco US Attorney’s Office. THIRTEEN LIVE OPERATORS LATER, I got a San Francisco District Attorney who took pity on me and looked up the correct number for me. That’s $1.99 and twelve credits on my next phone bill for a SINGLE CALL!!! YES, Siri sucks but as long as the customer eventually comes, not just comes first, it don’t have to be BBBJTC…Remember, B-E-S-T can be the enemy of GOODER!!!

Michael Goncalves

I S-A-I-D “GOODER” which is better than “GOOD”. You know, like a ‘Do-Gooder”!!! If all YOU MENS went to College, ya’ll be speaklng proper Engish like I do. YES, I said MENS!!! Plural of MEN—as in I have to go to the MENS ROOM—if more than one Men use the MENS ROOM, you got to use the Plural form!!! It’s like Octopus. What is the PLURAL of Octopus? It’s OCTOPUSSY—go ask OCTOMOM?!!! You wouldn’t say OCTOPIE because that would taste horrible!!!

Joseph

You have no idea how stupid this makes you look.
Mens room relates to the room belonging to the men, not plural. The plural of man is men.
Gooder is not proper Eng”L”ish either at all.

No wonder you waste(d) $200 a month on calls when you could just google it yourself.

You sir, are a grade A idiot.

Stephen Sevenyoln

I found iOS6 great

Howard Brazee

Some quirks were intentional. For instance, Apple decided that iPhone users will want to use Passbook, but iPad users won’t. So it doesn’t give iPad users the option to use it.

I don’t know if I will ever use it, but if I’m at the airport using my iPad, I don’t want to be pulling out my phone when my iPad is already in front of my eyes ready to tell me that my flight is ready.

Gerald Williams

Apple bit off more than they can chew? With the exception of the display, Apple is playing catchup with the iPhone 5.

This is what happens to people who go on faith for technology. I love my LG Optimus Slider. But I read dozens of reviews before I made the purchase even though I already had a good experience with other LG phones. Apple fanboys and girls are willing to take whatever iProduct comes down the pipe, sight unseen, at exorbitant prices. They have no one to blame but themselves. Caveat Emptor…..

Leona Eden

Well I have noticed some improvement to my iPhone 4s after the update to iOS6: The batterylife has tremendously increased. Maybe someone else has experienced this, or I am fool?

Raver22k

yep your a fool, my mom has a 4s and she upgraded and it has crashed multiple times, it drops calls more often amongst other things but hey if you can have good battery life for apple overly priced pos. They seem to feel the need to update their os and ios as much as possible so your old tech becomes obsolete and are forced get their new products. Hell my mom just bought a newer laptop off the net, calls apple to check to see if its stolen they tell her they have no way to know if its stolen, they dont keep track of that sort of thing. Then proceed to bug her to buy a refurbished product with them but w/out all the programs that she would get with the one she was getting not to mention the price hike of course….Yep apple has become MS.

octavio

thats a nice airport lol

Michael Goncalves

My $2 Billion’s worth [that's two cents adjusted to 2012 dollars as indexed to the 2013 Greek Bond Market...]: Remember when the iPhone 4 came out and the resultant lousy antenna problems? Remember what Steve said? A-L-L cell phones have Crappy Antennas. Our Crappy phones are no worse that everybody else’s crappy phones!!! Remember how the world respond to Job’s insolence? THEY THREW ROSE PEDDLES BEFORE HIS FEET!!! I suspect the same thing will happen with the iPhone 5. Apple will EVENTUALLY fix all the problems B-U-T there will be MUCHO-PAINO for all the early adapters!!! I used to be an EARLY ADAPTER. Pioneer 8 track tape, Sony Beta tape, Toshiba HD discs…you know why they call it BLEEDING EDGE TECHNOLOGY? Because 3 months after you bought it and two months after it leaves the market, you’ll be falling on your Jedi Knight sword!!! iPhone 4S’s make GREAT Hockey Pucks; not so with i5s!!!

LINCOLN M-A-Y HAVE FREED THE SLAVES but SPRINT did not free the SERFS (or should I say SURFS, as in Internet Serfer (God, I love my puns!!!). I own a totally stone age 8 month old ‘4Steve’ (4S) and to migrate it to the new i5, Sprint will slump me over a chair for $600.00 plus dollars (of course, if I agree to another 2 year indenture, they will give me $150.00 on accessories—which will just be enough to cover all the adapters I would need to convert my 30 pin devices (car chargers, stereos, etc) to Lightning—Grrrrrrrr!!!!!.

My pappy told me “Son, the secret to telling a good dirty joke is to make the PUNCH LINE as simple and Filthy as possible. So like, could you people check my work? PUNCHLINE: “I step up to a $600.00 shiny new iPhone5 and I will get the EXACT blazing 3G service I already have on my 4Steve because Sprint only has 4G access in 19 cities!!!” . I get a slightly faster A6 chip, a slightly bigger screen and a slightly wretched MAPS program without NFC capability B-U-T my phone will be 18% lighter?!!!

Apple just sold 5 million units over the weekend for a product that is only marginally better phone than their ‘4Steve’—I can see Bernie Maddoff in his cell giving Ivy two thumbs up!!! But chill, people!!! Apple has two-three weeks of record setting sales coming in before total user DISILLUSIONMENT sinks in. What does that mean? Once your Apple stock hits 900, sell, baby, sell!!!

Wonder Thomas

My download of iOS6 completely destroyed my iPhone. As in, I downloaded iOS6 and the phone would no longer turn on, so I took it to the Apple store, and even they couldn’t get it to work. Even they said it was the download. Apparently it’s causing problems for a lot of people but Apple takes no responsibility for this, so I’m out less than a year and a half old iPhone (that I was absolutely planning to upgrade once the mania died down). As much as the specs of the iPhone 5 are appealing, why would I want to buy something that will potentially worthless in just over a year (i.e. long enough for the warranty to be gone, but not long enough for me to be eligible for an upgrade)?

http://www.facebook.com/jasondesante Jason DeSante

I have the new ipad, can’t get the itunes store to load (not that I would want to buy any songs with it anyways), but I know the bugs of itunes match because I bought into it (the first sign of apples problems after the sad death of Steve Jobs), and you have to have the itunes app running in the background if you don’t want any stupid bugs. itunes match doesnt work at all either. There are so many things. ios is on ipods that were supposed to be designed to play music (64 gig is all anyone will ever need for eternity apparently) are going to suffer even more now that it seems playing music is literally impossible with ios6. Contacted support and no one heard of the stuff I told them about (which was barely the tip of the iceberg anyways), and they told me to restore my ipad to factory settings and do a full restore and they would call the next day which they didnt. Apple can fuck up all they want but if they don’t communicate with their fans that is the true achilles heel that will knock them on their knees where google can chop off their head. What a sad sad ios update this has become. Fuck you Tim Cook, you should have yelled at your employees more.

http://twitter.com/JessieKPhoto Jessie Kaufman

My 4s doesn’t work for voice calls since I’ve upgraded. I can call but no one can hear me. AT&T says its Apples problem and vice versa. Regardless, even as a loyal apple fan this will be my last iPhone. I am pissed no one can fix it.

Pinkius Piecus

Does anyone even use Siri for anything other than messing about?

http://www.facebook.com/johndavidrogers1 David Rogers

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a product that has been bashed as much as Apple’s new phone and iOS. Is it that Apple has set the bar so high for themselves that when they come out with their yearly iteration and doesn’t have an earth shattering change in the iPhone then they are complete failures?

http://twitter.com/AdventureStrong Adventure Strong

When I was on the Big Island of Hawaii, the map led me down a dead end dirt road about 35 minutes out of the way. Oops. hahaha

Erin888

Check out the CLIPCLOCK mobile app. The new social hub to discover and share the best video moments with your favorites!!!

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